Body found floating by river in Berrien County

76-year-old man discovered in about 3 feet of flood water.

76-year-old man discovered in about 3 feet of flood water.

September 19, 2008|By MELISSA JACKSON Tribune Staff Writer

SAWYER -- Police have identified the elderly man found floating face down in flood waters along the rain-swollen Galien River in Chikaming Township Thursday morning as George Genetzke. Chikaming Township Police Chief Jim Stormont said relatives of the 76-year-old man, who owns the property near where he was found, called 911 after they saw a body floating face down in the water off Minnich Road, just north of Hanover Road. He was last seen Tuesday evening and his family had returned to check on him. "He appeared to be deceased from the shore," Stormont said. The Berrien County Sheriff's Department Dive Team was called in to recover the body. Deputy Barry Oliver said Genetzke was floating atop a log that was caught against a tree roughly 25 feet from dry ground. About 50 feet beyond him were the overflowing banks of the Galien River, he said. "The area he was actually in was a flooded area," Oliver said. Divers found the body in about three feet of moving water. However, Oliver continued, there were indications from marks the floating log had rubbed into the tree that the water had been as high as five feet. He said it was possible to fight the "constant steady current" that was flowing through the area that morning, but added that the current was likely faster in deeper water. "It appears that he somehow fell into the water,'' Stormont said.